________________
That was the essence of his
"It took us three years to fidharma. Neither of us forced
nally put the plan into action, our children to follow any ritu
but we finally did it," says
THE MOST als blindly. We always told our
Sudhirbhai. children that it is good to fol
IMPORTANT Torrent began to work in the low what religion has to say,
fields of neuropsychiatry and
THING IS NOT that it is good to visit the
cardiovascular medications, derasar regularly. But this is
TO HURT
and as stress-related disorders not enough to be a good Jain.
PEOPLE.
began to become more and The most important thing is not
more frequent in the 1980s to hurt people. Violence of any
VIOLENCE OF and 90s, there was an increaskind - physical, mental or
ANY KIND -
ing need for specialised hosspiritual - must be avoided."
pitals to treat and care for paIn keeping with the Jain phi
PHYSICAL,
tients suffering from these losophy of jeeva-daya, at the MENTAL OR problems. As these so called behest of Shardaben, the Tor
‘rich men's problems' began to rent Group has contributed
SPIRITUAL -
take their toll on the common phenomenally in arranging for
MUST BE
man, Uttambhai Mehta was cattle fodder in as many vil
convinced that Ahmedabad selages of the state as it could
AVOIDED
riously needed a good, statereach during the drought-de
of-the-art cardiac institute. clared years. Once on a visit
"Since the state already had to the famous Jain temples of
good hospitals for specialised Palitana, Uttambhai realised that pilgrims suffered treatment of cancer and kidney diseases, my fagreatly due to lack of potable water at some of ther contacted Dr. Girinath and Dr. Mathew of the important temples on the hilltop. The water Apollo Hospital, Chennai, to discuss the possifrom the kund was quite unclean and the staunch bility of starting a cardiac hospital in Jain pilgrims would not touch mineral water. So Ahmedabad," explains Sudhirbhai. And that's Torrent stepped into the picture and worked out how the U. N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology and a scheme by which demineralised water could Research Centre came up in Ahmedabad in asbe piped up at least upto the main temples. sociation with the Government of Gujarat. "This
Parimal Garden, Ahmedabad
113 VARDHAMAN
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